


Little Star

by Ebhenah



Series: Klancemas 2018 [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Christmas, Domestic klance, Hospitalization, Keith is a good dad, Laith, Lance is a good dad, M/M, References to Illness, Sick Kid, klance, klance kids, klancemas, parental Klance, sibling bonds, temporary family separation due to illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 07:30:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16970382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ebhenah/pseuds/Ebhenah
Summary: Lance and Keith are separated on Christmas Eve by the conflicting needs of their children, with Lance accompanying their daughter to Olkarion in hopes of treating her genetic disorder and Keith remaining on the Atlas with their three sons.Written for the Klancemas event by MonthlyKlance on tumblrKlancemas 2018"Little Star"Dec 11: Stars(A future Klance-Family Fic)cw: discussion of serious childhood illness, its impacts on family, and hospitalization





	Little Star

Once upon a time, being among the stars was all Lance wanted. He would lie on the beach, or climb up onto the roof of the garage, or on the rare occasion, manage to convince one of his older siblings to drive him out of town, away from the light pollution after the sun had set to lie on the hood. He'd stretch out on his back, even when the ground was lumpy, or the tiles of the roof were uncomfortably hot from a day's worth of Cuban sun, or his sibling would be smoking cigarettes (that they were DEFINITELY not allowed to be smoking, but if he ratted them out they'd never do this favor for him again so he kept his mouth shut) and stinking up the air, and he'd watch the stars wink into being. They'd appear slowly at first, only the closest and the brightest showing up in the blue velvet sky, but as that blue deepened to that purpley-black he loved so much, they started popping into being like bubbles fizzing on the surface of his cola. He would stare up into the night sky and softly recite the names of the planets and stars and constellations he had learned- each one a promise to himself that someday, somehow, he would go to SPACE and he'd be surrounded by them. He loved the idea that he'd be among the stars and looking down on Earth and some other kid would be staring up- maybe right where he was- and dreaming about the same thing.

Space was the ultimate romantic adventure.

By the time he was eighteen, space had very much lost its magic for him. He still loved the stars, but he loved them the way he loved the view from his favorite hiking trail, or the way the sun set in the desert. It was pretty, and majestic, and awe-inspiring… but it wasn't magic anymore. Maybe if he'd made it into the stars the way he thought he would, it would have kept that fairytale appeal. Maybe not. Either way, being thrust into an intergalactic war with no warning, virtually no support system, and no reprieve had done a very good job of sanding the shine right off that childhood fantasy.

Not that the stars hadn't been good to him. It was where he'd fallen in love with his husband, after all. And, it was where he'd gotten to know his childhood hero well enough to call him a friend and later, family. It was where he'd forged the strongest friendships he'd ever seen anyone have. Without being thrust into the role of Paladin of Voltron, he'd never have met Allura, or Coran, or Matt, or Romelle. He'd never have truly understood the terrifying and amazing depths of his classmate Pidge. He'd never have fully appreciated how brave and resilient and remarkable his 'best bud' Hunk was. Keith would never have found his mother, never had made peace with his history, and probably would never have been ready to forge a real relationship, let alone strap in for marriage and a passel of kids.

He'd never have known the special bond between a Paladin and their Lion. First Blue. Then Red. He felt the little purr from his Lion that let him know that their bond was appreciated on that end, as well, and he smiled.

So, space had been kind of a mixed bag- awesome highs… but too many tragedies and betrayals and narrow escapes from near-certain death to be the favorite escape he'd thought it would be.

One definite perk, though, was that the medical technology of many of their allies was leaps and bounds beyond anything Earth had come up with… and since his little girl had a genetic disorder, that perk was probably his personal favorite- even if it meant that he and Talia might not make it home from Olkarion in time for Santa's arrival this year.

"Is it time?" Talia's sleepy voice startled him out of his reverie and he pulled the six year old into his lap.

"Not quite time yet," he answered, snuggling her against his chest. "But soon. How are you feeling?"

"Tired," she murmured, "and this thing is itchy..." She rubbed at the little disk tucked behind her ear and pouted.

"I know baby, but the doctors said not to pick at it and when it is done its job it will fall right off. Remember? It's really important."

She sighed, "I know… it's trying to hack my code and make a patch so my heart doesn't glitch."

Lance smiled, of all the many, many explanations she'd gotten of her health issues, of course the one that would make sense to her would be Pidge comparing her to a video game. "Exactly, and if it works, it will fall off all on its own in a couple of weeks." Please work, he prayed silently, please, please, please work. Even if the only thing it did was fix the worries about her heart. Just… please.

"And if it doesn't we get to go on another trip in Red," she smiled up at him, but it didn't reach her eyes. Little sweetheart, trying to cheer him up and soothe his worries when she was the one who had to live with this shit.

"And Papi gets to have more time with his little star all to himself," he kissed the top of her head and watched her eyes crinkle as her smile grew.

"I really like Olkarion," she said after a moment. "Maybe when I get big, I can go to school there?"

"Maybe," he agreed easily, "there are very good schools on Olkarion."

"And good hospitals, right?"

"Yes, princess… they have the very best hospitals. That's why we take you there."

"Yeah," she nodded, solemnly. It wasn't often that she got quiet and serious like this, but he didn't want to discourage it. He didn't want her to think they expected her to be happy and bubbly and optimistic all the time. "So… maybe they can teach me to be… like, a doctor… for kids like me."

"I think that's a great idea, Talia. I bet you'd be a great doctor."

"Yeah?" She chewed her lip, "you think I'm smart enough? The Olkari are super smart. Smart like Tia Pidge."

"I think you are plenty smart," he answered, ruffling her hair, "you understand more of the stuff Tia Pidge says than I do!"

"Papi!" she rolled her eyes, "that's cuz you don't LISTEN when Tia Pidge talks!"

"I don't LISTEN when Tia Pidge talks," he countered, in a playful, exaggeratedly exasperated voice, tapping her on the nose, "because I don't UNDERSTAND what Tia Pidge is saying!"

That made her laugh and he could feel her relax a little more with every chuckle. They should have been home by now. They were supposed to be home by now, but there had been complications and she'd needed to stay two extra days. So now, they were galaxies away from home on Christmas Eve and TENTH in line for the teleduv. Opening a wormhole was draining and Allura was still the only one who could do it, so depending on what was ahead of them, it could be anywhere from an hour to a day before it was their turn- longer if there were any emergencies that jumped the queue.

Keith had already promised her, AND made all three of her brothers promise her that the stockings and gifts would stay untouched until they were all home, together… but that was cold comfort to a six year old. Cold comfort for a thirty-something Cuban who was missing Noche Buena with his family at this very moment and who could practically TASTE the roast pork his mother always made. But if there was even a CHANCE that this bio-hack idea would work to fix even SOME of Talia's damaged genes, it would be worth it. It would be worth ANYTHING.

The comms lit up and Talia squealed, pointing at the blinking light. "It's THEM! Answer, Papi! Answer!"

Chuckling, he did as she asked, a holoscreen appearing in front of them. Thace was far too close to the transmitter, clearly fiddling with the settings. "I don't know why I have to be the one to do this," he muttered, "it's Lion tech… he's been dealing with Lion tech forever…"

"Stop complaining about your Dad," Lance scolded, scaring his eldest so badly that he squawked and jumped, "he knows how to do it, he wants to make sure YOU know, too."

"Sorry, Papi," Thace grumbled.

"It's not me that deserves the apology," Lance pointed out.

"Shhh- not NOW," Talia insisted shifting in his lap, "HI THACE!"

The nine year old wasn't generally a big fan of his kid sister in normal day to day life- but today wasn't a normal day. Today was Christmas Eve, and Talia had just spent close to a week in the hospital. They fought and he didn't LIKE her much, but he still LOVED her… and that was clear in the way his face softened and his eyes lit up at the sight of her face. "Hey brat! Enjoying your vacation?"

"S'not a vacation," she scowled.

"Did you have to go to school?"

"No…"

"Then its a vacation," he insisted- with all the wisdom his nine years had granted him.

"We can argue about whether it is a vacation when we get home," Lance pointed out, "we have some stuff that needs to be done- where is everyone else?"

"Here!" Keith's voice carried over the line, "we're here! We just…" He appeared on the screen, Kashi in his arms and looking very put out, and Rai trailing behind. "Sorry- there was and incident with milk and then a slip and- you know what? Not important. All taken care of now and I'd rather give you the whole story in person. So! Is everyone who can't get into a bar in their pjs?"

There was a loud chorus of yesses and Keith made a big deal of making all of the kids 'prove' it to him- even though he was the one that had hounded three of them into changing for bed in the first place. Once that was done they put together the snack for Santa- Talia got to boss her brothers around about the arrangement of the cookies on the plate and the plate, note, and glass of milk on the tray, because she wasn't there to actually add anything to the tray.

Storytime with Daddy followed that, with Keith reading out "The Night Before Christmas" and "The Elves and the Shoemaker" and the kids chiming in with favorite lines and the same jokes they made every year. Then the kids hung their stockings with Talia directing Keith, who was pretending to be absolutely terrible at following directions and had Talia shrieking with frustrated laughter at his absolute inability to figure out how to put the loop of her stocking over the hook on the little snowman statue with her name on it. Lance could barely keep a straight face. It wasn't often that Keith got flat out silly with the children, but when he did it was always a big hit- and so damn endearing that it made Lance's heart do little flip-flops.

"He's doing this on purpose!" Talia complained to him.

He shook his head, "oh no- he's not. He's TERRIBLE at following orders! That's why I ended up in Red and he got moved to Black! He's much better at being bossy!"

"Thanks, babe," Keith said drily. "I love you, too."

"Awww, I know you do, sweetums!" He teased, "who could resist Loverboy Lance?" He grinned, giving his husband some classic finger gun action and making all of the kids dramatically groan and roll their eyes. One of them even managed a very teenager-sounding 'ewww gross!'

Parenting. Done. Right.

"Whazza' loverboy?" Kashi asked and Keith turned to the transmitter, arms crossed over his chest and a smug smirk on his face.

"Excellent question, Kashi. Papi's going to explain that to you RIGHT NOW."

So, a challenge. Fine. He could handle that. "Loverboy Lance is what they called Papi when he was on tv with the Voltron Show forever and ever ago… because everyone wanted me to be their boyfriend. A loverboy is someone everyone wants to have as a boyfriend." Bam. Easy peasy.

"Whazza' boyfriend?" Kashi asked.

"A boyfriend is a boy you act all all gross and mushy with," Rai explained. Ahhh- that's who channeled their inner teen. "Like when Daddy and Papi get all kissy-faced and then LIE and say it's naptime. EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE TOO OLD FOR NAPS!"

Man, it had been far too long since he'd seen Keith blush like that. He hadn't realized how much he missed it. It was downright adorable. "We're old," Lance replied, "old people like naps."

"Nooooo," Rai argued, "old people take naps by falling asleep on the couch. You guys just LIE- we know you're awake in there! We can HEAR YOU!"

"ANYWAY!" Keith interjected pulling Rai back into his seat. His face was so red! Lance nearly cooed- how precious was that?! "It's getting late and Santa won't stop at our quarters if any of the kids are awake, so it time for Papi to sing and then I'll tuck you three into bed. Talia gets to have a slumber party on Red Lion." He smiled at Talia, "but don't stay up too late, tomorrow is a big day!"

"Hey!" Thace poked his head in front of Keith, crowding close to the screen, "Tally! Can we see the THING? The alien thing…"

"S'not a THING," she grumbled, "it's a bioadaptive genetic read/write interface… that's right, isn't it, Papi?"

"That's it exactly, little star. You nailed it."

"Fine!" Thace rolled his eyes, "can we see the bioadaptive thingie?"

"Ummm… okay," she shifted in Lance's lap, turning her head and pulling her dark hair up and out of the way.

"All I can see is your ear," Rai pouted.

"Here, let me help," Lance very gently folded her ear forward so she could show off her new tech. She didn't find it nearly as cool as the boys did, but their enthusiasm buoyed her mood considerably.

"Ok guys- we are going to hit out transmission limit soon," Lance interjected. "If you want me to sing, it's gotta be now."

They settled down, Kashi in Keith's lap, Rai tucked up under on of his arms and Thace sprawled on the floor in front of them. His boys. Talia cuddled into his chest and pulled his arm around her, threading her fingers with his and resting her face on their joined hands. His girl.

He sang them the song he always sang on Christmas Eve. It wasn't really a lullaby or even a Christmas carol. It was an old protest song from WWIII that was about how Cubans secretly and silently celebrated Christmas for 30 years while they were oppressed. It was meant to encourage hope and quiet resistance against oppression, but he loved it because it was a pretty song and it was about his home and its history and the bravery and resilience of Cubans. A few years back, Keith had pointed out that many of its messages could be applied to the war THEY'D fought against the Galra and yeah… maybe that was part of why that song spoke to him so much… but either way, he wanted his kids to know that history and carry that pride in their heritage.

Kashi was asleep by the end of the song, and Rai was visibly nodding off.

"Night night guys," he said softly, "love you… miss you… see you soon."

"G'nighhhh…" Talia trailed off into a yawn and waved at the screen.

"Night!" Thace blew a kiss and shuffled out of the frame.

"Love you, Tally," murmured Rai.

"Alright, I need to get the boys to bed. Talia, sweetheart, Daddy missed you bunches and I'm gonna squeeze you so tight tomorrow that you're gonna be taller when I stop." She gave a little giggle, already sounding more alert. "I love you, little star."

"Love you, too, Daddy."

"Lance, I arranged that thing, so it's a go… and I'll call you again in like, an hour or so once I get these guys down for the night."

"Perfect," Lance smiled at him, "I knew I could count on you. Love you Mr. Kogane."

Keith smiled at the old joke from their newlywed days, "love you, too, Mr. Kogane."

The video feed blinked out and Lance dropped a kiss on Talia's forehead. "Does that make you feel a little better, little star?"

"A bit," she said, "can't believe I'm gonna miss Santa…"

"You aren't going to miss him, you're going to be asleep when he shows up. If we were at home, you'd be asleep when he showed up. Besides, we might be home by morning! Once Allura opens the wormhole we are just a few minutes away from the Atlas."

"I guess," she sighed.

Time for the thing that Keith had arranged. He stood, carrying her to her little bunk and tucking her in. "Okay- this is a special treat. So, you get a ONE TIME exception to the no screens in bed rule. ONE time." He pulled a tablet out of his duffel bag, "uncle Shiro is waiting for your call."

Her whole face lit up, "really?"

"Really. I know that it is hard for you to get pulled around to all these appointments. Your Daddy and I and our whole family love you, and want you to be happy… but we don't know what it is like to be YOU. Uncle Shiro, he understands better what it feels like to be the one that has to stay in the hospital and get poked at by specialists… and you just had a tough hospital stay- so I thought you might want to talk to him."

She hugged him tight, and he heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sniffle. "Love you, little star."

"Love you, too…" she whispered, "how come you guys call me that? Little star?"

He smiled, "because it's your name… Rinn means star."

"Ohhhhhhhhh… okay, and I'm little… I get it now. Can I really call Uncle Shiro?"

"Yes, you really, really can… and I'm going to go all the way back up to the cockpit, so you can even talk about how annoying and embarrassing I am and I won't. Even. know."

"Papi," she giggled, "you already know!"

He laughed, he loved that his kids felt safe enough to tease them, and ruffled her hair again. "Love you," he whispered, kissing the top of her head again.

He heard Shiro's voice before he was even ten feet from the door, and he offered up a little prayer of thanks that Talia had someone close to her that understood what she was facing.

So, once upon a time, being among the stars was all Lance had wanted. The reality hadn't been nearly as magical as he'd thought it would be… but there was definitely magic in space. He'd seen it. He'd FELT it, been a part of it. The stars didn't hold his heart the way they used to… but sitting in Red's cockpit, staring out at constellations that were not the ones he'd grown up learning, he felt that little glimmer of hope in his chest.

He didn't need the magic space held anymore, he didn't love all the stars the way he once did. But if they could find the RIGHT bit of magic up here in space, there was this one little star that held his heart in her fragile little hands and really really could use some magic… hopefully, it was the magic that brought down Blue's particle barrier all those years ago and led him to meeting the Olkari, and falling in love with a purple-eyed boy with alien dna, and starting a family, and needing medical tech that Earth didn't have, but the Olkari did and maybe… just maybe that same magic would mean that the tech would work on Talia's very human genes.

Because the universe was so much better with that bright little star shining in it.


End file.
